Why some Nigerians prefer to keep money at home instead of banks

Some Nigerians, especially those of the older generation still prefer keeping money at home rather than taking it to the bank.

This archaic behavior sometimes is as a result of lack of confidence in the banking sector, lack of financial education, illiteracy etc.

Findings reveals that 41.6 per cent of Nigerian adults keep their money at home.

According to Mrs Saidat, a trader in Lagos, “I love keeping my money with me rather than keeping it in any unreliable bank”.

She further explained that the reason she prefers keeping her money at home is because of the ease of accessibility of her funds whenever she needs them.

“Also bank charges are one of the problems which make Nigerians keep their money at home,” she added.

While interviewing a few Nigerian adults, we gather that bank charges seems to be a major scare in their decisions not to save their hard-earned funds in the bank.

Also, corruption is one of the factors why some affluent Nigerians who have obtained their monies through corrupts means vehemently downplay the importance of taking and saving their “mazuma” in the bank.

According to Dr Michael Oke, a senior lecturer in the Banking and Finance Department, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, “those keeping money at home are mostly politicians hiding embezzled funds.”

He further explained that many public officers, who had stolen public funds, need a safe haven for their loot which the conventional banks could not offer.

Sad stories about monies kept in homes being burnt or flooded away across the many tabloids in the country. Victim of such circumstances find themselves become either destitutes or suicidal.

Therefore, the anachronistic idea of keeping money in the house should be totally discouraged as it adds no economic value to the owner.

In addition, the essence of keeping money in banks is good because saving is a factor for investment and those in need of money in banks could access it through loan for investment.

It is clear that monies need to be kept in banks, however, before we begin to lambast our people for choosing the “self-care service”, the write thinks it is high time our financial institutions (banks) swallowed the bitter pill of truth.

Some banks are simply lazy and opportunistic. They only feed fat and big on depositors’ monies instead of practicing true and universal systems of banking and finance.

On a final note, banks are advised to increase interest rates on savings and reduce charges for services such as ATMs, Transfers etc.

Also, improvement in the use and deployment of technologies should be adopted by banks. Issues like long queues in and outside the banking milieu should become a thing of the past. Also, frequent network issues that frustrate financial transactions should be improved upon.